Page 86 of Love is Angry

“Hey, yourself,” he says, eyeing me carefully. “You good?”

“Not as good as this food,” I say, ogling the pan of dad’s signature lasagna sitting in the middle of the table. “When did you find time to do this?” I ask him.

He shrugs. “Kind of already had it prepped,” he says with a smile.

I wince. “Poor Noelle. Maybe we should invite her over?”

“Nah, she already ate,” Dad says. “Went out on the town with her sister when I cancelled. She’s independent like that.”

“You’ve got a type,” I tell him with a sly side-eye. “She’s not an aspiring expat, is she?”

“No,” Dad says with a laugh. “No, I made sure to sit her down and define ‘independent’ for me before we made things official.”

“My mother is super independent, too,” I explain to Rhue.

“What happened to her?” he asks.

I shrug. “Nothing special. She just left us one day and never came back. She sent us a letter a few weeks later from Paris. Apparently, she felt like mydadand I were sinking her career,and she got this offer to work at some super fancy restaurant. Long story short, we’re dead to her, and she’s dead to us.”

It doesn’t make up for the hole she left,but my dad and I, we survived.

“I’m sorry,” Rhue says.

“It’s okay. I was old enough to understand how selfish she was. Honestly, not everyone is cut out to be a wife and a parent, and my mom proved it. I’m just thankful she decided to keep me and gave Dad and marriage a shot.”

“You’re very matter-of-fact about this,” Rhue replies. “I’m not sure whether I should applaud you or be concerned.”

“Given the shit that’s been hurled at me, Mom walking out is basically ancient history and at the bottom of the pile of issues that will plague me until I’m old and ready to die.”

He laughs. “Damn, you’re brightly positive.”

“Meh. A walking ray of sunshine.”

“That’s my girl,” Dad says, chuckling. “Honestly, Rhue, if it weren’t for your mother and Maddie, I would have had a much harder time adjusting. Roxanne had a way of seeing both sides of something like this—she helped me out a lot. She was a damn good psychologist, but she would have made a fantastic grief counselor too.”

“I had no idea you struggled so much,” I say, feeling a little hurt.

“You were a kid, Maddie,” Dad says. “I couldn’t put all that on you. Wouldn’t have been right. So tell me, you two—apart from pissing off his lordship, what have you been up to? How’s college treating you?”

“Like moving targets,” I say grumpily.

Dad grins.“I take it you had your hazing?”

Rhue offers a nervous laugh, stealing a glance at me in the process. I can’t help but smile, remembering how weird and steamy that night was. Strange how the memory of Rhue touching me doesn’t set me off in a panic the same way Rhue’s actual touch does. What’s wrong with me?

“Cornell has changed some of the rules,” Rhue says, then gulps down the rest of his wine. “It’s on a voluntary basis only, and it targets both men and women who consent.”

In an instant, Dad’s head turns, his gaze finding me. His eyebrows arch upwards as he purses his lips for a moment. “Let me guess, you consented.”

“I did.”

He lets a cackle out. “I knew it. What did you have to do?”

“Oh. We just spent the night in a cabin in the middle of the woods,” Rhue says casually. “There was beer in the pantry. Crackers, too. Blankets. We were fine.”

“You, as in you and Maddie?”

Rhue gives me a brief look, and I nod.